Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Fruitbats Live @ Tunnels, Aberdoom!

What to do on a cold, wet Tuesday a week before Christmas? Well a little know band called Fruitbats played their first ever Scottish gig. I wouldn't have taken much notice myself except for the bit on the poster saying featuring members of The Shins, one of my favourite new old bands and members of Vetiver. They formed in 2001 and have released 4 full length albums, most recently 2009's The Ruminant Band, released on Sub Pop.
Well based on my love for The Shins we went on down to see what it was all about. Steve Milne (Dirty Hearts Club / The Little Kicks) was first on the bill performing some new solo material he's recorded & releasing through Bedford Records, a local label hoping to establish some of Aberdeen's up and coming musos. Steve started his set with a nice little acoustic piece with no lyrics just some sweet harmonising which I thought was pretty brave but also caugtht everyones attention. He was joined later by Indian Red Lopez's Mike Chang, another very talented local lad. With Mike on acoustic guitar & Steve on the Synth with some old skool drum machine beats, a perfect indie soundtrack was formed. A highlight was definately their cover of Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear, awesomes. Expecting good things for them over the coming year.

Next up was Puzzle Muteson, consisting of two chaps, a keyboard & an acoustic guitar they wevaed together some nice melodies and vocals, a shame the bar was so noisy but they played a real nice set and didn't seemed to fazed.

Finally the various members of FRUITBATS took to the stage and everyone quickly descended down to the front. Having only heard brief clips from friends I was quite excited to see what the band would sound like live. Their music is (based on the Ruminant Band) has an old country blues feel to it yet its fresh and fun at the same time. The guys ripped into straight off the bat and had a captivated audience with hips shaking and feet tapping. When they finished the set they were a bit suprised to find their escape route back stage didn't actually exist so instead had a quick drink on stage and then picked up their instruments and ripped into a few more tunes. They played a brilliant set and despite a few technical problems with mic's not working they played on and even redid the end parts to two of the songs, I guess they didn't want us to feel cheated being Aberdeen and all. But it was a great gig with good friend's and the band were nice enough to sign my 12" which has been on heavy rotation at the flat and is making its way into my top 5 records of 2009!

To find out more click the links above for reviews, band pages & check out some videos from the gig below!

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Mood of Collapse is taken from a Douglas Coupland novel. His novels are great and he also produces some interesting art too. Mood Of Collapse was originally going to be the title for a musical project which so far hasn't gone past some rough 4 track demos but it seemed quite apt for my various projects. Dancing In The Dark is the title of a Bruce Springsteen song. Its a pretty up beat song although it deals with the unknown future of the songs protagonist but ends with him being willing to put his heart on the line. I guess that's kinda how I feel about what I'm doing.

The blog aims to shine some light on creativity and culture in Aberdeen, an often over looked and undervalued part of the Scottish Cultural landscape. With a personal mission to connect the dots between artists both new and old, galleries and events, I hope to show the real value of the art in the Granite City and dispell the myth that "nothing ever happens here". Another mission is to break out beyond Aberdeen and to build connections with artists all over Scotland and further afield.

I do my best to get out and document the numerous events that happen across the city but its not always possible to make it to everything. There's a large number of people who are making, creating, curating and helping to give an interesting cultural offering from contemporary art exhibitions, live gigs, film nights or live theatre productions.

If you're interested in a particular topic eg Music, Aberdeen Art, Graffiti or a venue then type it into the search box on the top left hand side and hopefully you will find a range of posts relating to your choosen topic. If you don't find something then feel free to get in touch with me at moodofcollapse@gmail.com